Select Artworks by Tsai Shiu-Yuin celebrates the 50-year career of Sino- Filipino painter and calligrapher Tsai Shiu-Yuin (Arsenia Lim). In her 9th solo exhibit—her second at Yuchengco Museum—Tsai looks back at her artistic career and her most memorable works. The exhibit is on view at Yuchengco Museum until July 24.
Select Artworks features 60 of Tsai’s traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy from 1970 to the present, with an emphasis on recent works. Her pieces represent a variety of subjects—from landscapes, flowers, and birds to spiritual figures, animals, and calligraphy. Tsai meticulously depicts the subjects of her paintings, using research, photographs, and even video to help create lifelike renditions.
Tsai Shiu-Yuin, who is also known as Arsenia Lim, maintains strong bonds to three places: in China—where she traces her ancestral roots, in Taiwan—where she received her university education and art training, and in the Philippines—her birthplace and family's current residence. She first learned Chinese painting under Sino-Filipino painter Yang Keng-Tang, and continued to study painting and calligraphy while a History major at National Taiwan University.
Tsai has been teaching Chinese painting for 45 years. Since 2006, she has been offering her Shui Mo (Water and Ink) traditional Chinese painting classes at Yuchengco Museum. She has had eight solo shows, and has participated in more than a hundred group exhibits in the Philippines and abroad.
A fully illustrated book—entitled A Leisurely Swim through the Sea of Art: Selected Artworks by Tsai Shiu-Yuin—complements the exhibit, and includes annotations, personal thoughts, and snapshots from the artist. The book is published by Philippine Zhi-Der Art Center and is available at Yuchengco Museum’s Books & Gifts Corner for P2,500.